1. Learning to read at Warren Road
Phonics in EYFS and KS1
Learning to read at Warren Road

2. Elements of learning to read
Listening
Speaking
Phonics
Writing
Spelling

3. Where do we start? Listening is key!
Your children started learning the skills they need to learn to read from the moment you began talking to them.
Children need to be able to hear and say sounds in order to be able to begin the process of reading and writing.

4. Listening
This is one of the hardest yet most important skills a child will learn. We teach children the kind of behaviour that a good listener shows, so that we know they are listening.
Sitting still
Sitting quietly
Looking at the person who’s talking
Trying to remember what the speaker said
Not interrupting

5. Speaking
The Foundation Stage curriculum is a play based curriculum, and there’s a lot of research to show that the language that children use in play is far richer than that they use in more formal situations. At Warren Road we teach children in every year to:
Use language to imagine and recreate roles and experiences
Extend their vocabulary
Control their voice (inside and outside volumes!)
Use talk to organise, explain and clarify their ideas and feelings.
Have fun with language: make up songs, rhymes and stories
Talk 4 writing project & Talk for Maths

6. Teaching & Learning
Children learn in many different ways. In the classroom we use a range of teaching styles in order to address every child’s preferred learning style.
Visual stimulus (picture cards, Interactive games on the white board)
Auditory activities (listening and repetition games, telling stories and rhyme and singing songs)
Tactile activities (playing games with objects, making letter shapes, using instruments, drawing and writing)
Physical activities (moving to sounds, creating patterns, large letter shapes in the air and on the ground)

7. Phonics: Letters and Sounds
Government scheme (2007) 6 phases taught daily from Nursery to Year 2.
We use a number of other resources alongside this including Jolly Phonics.
Phase 1
Activities are divided into seven aspects, including
Environmental sounds
Instrumental sounds
Body percussion
Rhythm and rhyme
Alliteration
Voice sounds
Oral blending and segmenting
It is expected that these activities will be continuous throughout all phases

8. Phase 2 Learning 19 letters of the alphabet and one sound for each.
Blending sounds together to make words.
Segmenting words into their separate sounds.
Beginning to read simple captions.
Set 1: s, a, t, p
Set 2: i, n, m, d
Set 3: g, o, c, k
Set 4: ck, e, u, r
Set 5: h, b, f, ff, l, ll, ss

9. Phase 3
The remaining 7 letters of the alphabet, one sound for each and graphemes such as ch, oo, th representing the remaining phonemes not covered by single letters.
Set 6: j, v, w, x
Set 7: y, z, zz, qu
Consonant digraphs: ch, sh, th, ng
Vowel digraphs & trigraphs: ai, ee, igh, oa, oo, ar, or, ur, ow, oi, ear, air, ure, er
Tricky words which cannot be decoded are also introduced.
He, she, we , me, be, was, you, they, all, are, my, her

10. The English language is not easy!
We have 26 letters but 44 phonemes in the spoken language.
There are a huge number of letter combinations needed to make these 44 phonemes.

11. Phase 4
Children will now know a grapheme for each of the 44 phonemes. They will be able to blend phonemes to read CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words and segment in order to spell them.
Children will also have begun reading straightforward two- syllable words and simple captions, as well as reading and spelling some tricky words.
Tricky words to be introduced
Said, have, like, so, do, some, come, were, there, little, one, when, out, what

12. Phase 5
Then after that, even though at first it may sound confusing, your child will learn that sometimes a single phoneme can be represented many different ways.
Like the sound /ay/ in play

13. Phase 5 /ay/ as in the word play /a-e/ as in the word spade
/ea/ as in the word break
/ey/ as in the word grey/they
/eigh/ as in the word eight
/a/ as in the word later
/ei/ as in the word vein

14. Phase 6
Children have learnt the most frequently occurring grapheme–phoneme correspondences (GPCs) in the English language.
They will be able to read many familiar words automatically. When they come across unfamiliar words they will in many cases be able to decode them quickly and quietly using their well-developed sounding and blending skills.
With more complex unfamiliar words they will often be able to decode them by sounding them out.
If phonics doesn’t work children need to use contextual clues; pictures, comprehension etc
Spellings! No Nonsense spelling scheme.

15. Learning to Spell Strategy Explanation Syllables
To learn a word by listening to how many syllables there are so it can be broken into smaller bits. (e.g. Sep-tem-ber)
Base Words
To learn a word by finding its base word. (e.g. jumping- base word jump +ing
Analogy
To learn a word by using a word that is already learnt. (e.g. could, would, should)
Mnemonics
To learn a word by making up a sentence to help remember them. (e.g. could – OU Lucky Duck; people eat orange peel like elephants

16. What can you do to help? Create an environment for reading and writing
Sadly only 50% of age 4 children are read to at home, 33% at age 7 and that then drops to 25%!!
It is important children read for pleasure not just to learn!
Don’t force a child to read, read to them, make up stories, let them look at books on their own. Enrich their vocabulary, children need to hear and say words at least 6 times to learn them.
Talk to each other, A LOT!
Go on listening walks.
Learn stories off by heart (look at the impact of ‘The papaya that spoke’).
Be excellent role models. Demonstrate good reading and writing habits.
Always be positive about learning, telling children you don’t like something can have a negative impact on their enthusiasm to do it.
Constantly build confidence, make it fun and achievable.
Ensure you revisit known sounds and words when learning something new or tricky.

17. Useful resources Books, comics, magazines. Anything with print!
Word/letter and picture card games and puzzles
Non-fiction books as well as fiction
Story CD/tapes
Magnetic letters
Mini white boards/easels, pens and chalk
Paint brushes and water, sand and mud
Post it notes
Websites
But most importantly, YOU
Ask your child’s teacher for help if you have concerns about your child’s progress

18. Websites http://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/ParentsMenu.htm
s_check_leaflet_2013_.pdf (2013 but still relevant)
(teaches different phonemes)
( word building)
(Jolly phonics songs)
(Lots of different games but Spellbound ;) is great)
  (Maths is important too ;)